Treats disc golf at the same level of respect as a high-end ball golf course. It was an honor to have the opportunity to play here and well-worth whatever distance and time it took to get here. It's over an hour from St. Louis but once you hit the property you know you've made it to a special place for disc golf.

--Well-stocked pro shop, friendly, helpful, knowledgeable, enthusiastic staff. The staff made us feel welcome on this special property.

--You can rent a cart! You can play without a cart, but to me it's worth the extra expense given the distance of this course. You'll be walking well over three miles. Just the walk from the 9th green to the 10th tee is over ¼ mile. For this MA70 player I might not have made it to the back nine without a cart.

--Beautiful place: Gorgeous property, manicured like a good ball golf course. Sculptures, fountains, stone walls and a fair amount of whimsey add to the ambiance of the natural beauty of the place.

--Amenities: Clubhouse with a well-stocked pro shop with everything disc golf from discs to clothes to snacks and drinks. Also, all you would need for a fishing side hustle. Running water with flush toilets in the clubhouse, clean port-o-potties on the course. Wi-Fi, even in the far-reaches of the course.

--Three sets of cement color-coded tee pads per hole. Even in the morning dampness they were fine to throw on, with room for huge run-ups and follow-throughs with a couple of minor exceptions. (See CONS). The Red tee pads were a touch smaller than the blue and white, I think, but that just might be my rec-player bias.

-Gateway Titan Pro 24 baskets catch great. Not sure that's everyone's choice for a Championship-level PDGA Gold course, but for my skill they were fine. Always well mounted, with 4 different possible positions. The Caddie Book that you get on sign-in has the current position for each hole written in. The greens were all fair and free from gimmicks, occasionally build-up on boulders or in the case of the "cake" 18th hole a series of layered circles. I did get an unfortunate roll-away on 15 B position when my birdie putt was a bit low, hit the rocks, and trickled into the pond but that was on me, not the course.

--A legit par 70. The Red course was a real challenge for this sub-800 rated MA70 player. I had a few birdie looks, but on many holes my "drop in bogey" felt like it was about as good as I could have done. I'm sure the other layouts will provide a fair challenge for stronger players as long as you pick the right layout for your skill set. Don't let your ego put you off the RED layout... most amateurs probably belong on this layout. If your group has a mix of skill levels, its no problem to have players tee from different pads, all layouts play along the same fairways nearly all the time.

--With lots of par four and par fives, there are risk-reward decisions all the time. This is far more interesting than playing an all-par-3 course where you are attacking the basket on every drive.

-Natural terrain is well utilized for golf. Excellent design takes advantage of ponds, elevation, trees, and the old train right-of-way. Miles of out-of-bound stakes make for some faux islands and tighten fairways (See comments in CONS)

--Signage is minimalist but functional. The "next tee" pointers under the baskets are helpful. Consult the caddie book and/or UDisc app and you'll get around no problem.

-The colorful caddie book was informative and makes a great souvenir.

-With rental cabins and a second high-quality course on the property this is an amazing destination.

The biggest con for me was the miles of out-of-bounds stakes. The course was tough enough with the natural terrain of ponds, trees, and elevations. I "get" the need to put some teeth into the course to make it a challenge for 1020 rated pros, but for us mere mortals (who will be playing by far most of the rounds on this course) the OB could be crushing in the wind. Where there are safety issues near ponds and drop-offs, I'm OK with OB, but do we really need the faux "island" holes when there are already plenty of shots that force dealing with "real" water. Hole twelve comes to mind- a bail-out to the right would already "penalize" a lower rated player, but shouldn't I have that option?

On hole eight I actually had an "ace run" that buzzed the A-positioned basket, then sadly rolled OB. I know I was supposed to re-tee, but I played it as OB, took my bogie and moved on. Most times an errantp shot is already penalized by forcing a scramble recovery shot, a "OB" penalty takes away that scramble/recover aspect of the game.

--High risk of losing discs. Many holes involve throwing near water. Especially when the wind is up (in this part of Missouri that's most of the time), even careful shots can end up at the bottom of a muddy pond. At least the on-site pro shop likely has something you can buy to replace it.

-a couple of the red tee pads had big drop-offs in front of the tees. Could be a big safety hazard on a careless follow-through.

--Reservations needed. You can't always just "show up" and play. On slow days you can probably get a tee time on short notice, but when it's busy to be safe you might want to book at least a day in advance.

This place is definitely a "FIVE STAR" rated disc golf destination. It's well-worth the effort to get here, and for you course baggers and bucket list players this makes a perfect paring with Harmony Bends in Columbia. The question I struggled with is does this course meet the criteria for 5 STARS "Best of the Best". It's close, but ultimately while I thought the experience was among the days of disc golfing I've ever had, on the technical side the golf didn't quite reach the "Maple Hill" level for me. The OB and the wind conspiring to give me a triple bogey on the finishing hole might have lost a ½ a star. On a different day, who knows.

--For a rec player who throws less than 250', I was tempted to throw A LOT of full distance drives but I found I was mostly successful with a fairway driver that I have confidence in my accuracy.

What sort of disc golf course would you create if you had a seemingly endless supply of both interesting land, and funding? Eagle's Crossing is one jaw-dropping answer to this question. This DG-exclusive property is located about an hour's drive northwest of St. Louis.

The first thing that quickly becomes apparent when driving up, parking, and warming up at Eagle's Crossing is the sheer spectacle of the place. The wooden arch gate at the entrance to the complex is worth a photo in itself. After a longish drive down the dirt entrance road, you'll crest a small hill and the course you have read so much about will come into view - appropriately starting with #18's 5-tiered cake green. You'll park in front of the lawn with four practice baskets - all spaced out with appropriate putting distance between them, and one elevated for good measure. Don't forget to check in at the pro shop (and use the restroom if needed) before you continue down the hill to the dedicated driving range area, with two eagle statues guarding the entrance to the six large green painted concrete pads. Next to this is the first hole, with the space between the fairway and the driving range filled by eleven larger-than-life sculptures of what I initially thought was a disc golfer performing some throw that I can't even comprehend, but actually may be some kind of storied mythological hero throwing a discus (I'm not a history buff). I'll save some of the details for your own discovery, but suffice it to say that sort of decor continues throughout the course. The budget for just these decorative items at Eagle's Crossing must far exceed that of the average entire course.

Most of the actual course amenities are top notch as well. The baskets are Gateway Titan Pro 24 baskets (one per hole). There are flags on top of each one for visibility. Little color coded clips on the basket rungs - plus a couple of standalone signs at longer transitions - make finding the next hole mostly easy. The tee pads are huge slabs of concrete, and there are three of them per hole to create Red, White, and Blue layouts. The Red and Blue concrete pads are actually painted/dyed to make it obvious which tee you are at. Near each tee pad for each hole are great big stone(!) benches, which are a perfect place to not only rest, but simply stop and take in your surroundings (or page through the caddie book - more on this later).

What about the actual disc golf? No question, this is a championship level course. Even from the shortest Red tees (which I played), it is a long and challenging round by most standards. I'd call this Red tee layout equivalent to a tricky White layout on an average course. The Whites here will be plenty for most experienced players, and likely are intended for FPO play at future sanctioned events. If I had been on top of my game, I could have probably tried the Whites and finished something like 12 to 18 over, and lost a couple of discs in the process. The Blues are for MPO and the gods among us.

Much has been written about some of the individual holes here, so I won't make this section too long. The two that stuck out to me most were:
- #7 is a mostly wooded 250'-500' hole with water on the right the whole way (requires a short carry from the Blue tee). The basket is about 8' from the top of a man-made vertical wall, with water at the bottom. I threw a timid upshot and had to putt at the water. I threw a floaty putt, missed and watched in horror as my disc did a weird bounce and coin flipped off the ledge. Fortunately the water was down a bit and there was a 2-3' wide muddy area next to the wall that I could walk around and retrieve my disc.
- The finishing hole #18 was my favorite. Depending on tee and pin position, it plays somewhere between 456' and 763' on gently rolling and lightly wooded terrain, slowly curling around two ponds on the right the entire way and with the fairway broken up by OB stakes into two distinct sections. Although there are 3 pin positions, I doubt that the basket often moves from the "B" position which is on the top of the 5-tiered "cake" green mentioned previously. I managed to sink a putt from the lowest tier, which was a nice way to end the round.

Beyond those standouts, there are lots of other great water hazards and rolling elevation changes designed into the layout. On the more open holes, a plethora of OB stakes generally mark the edges of the fairways. On the more wooded holes, trees along the OB line are wrapped with white bands (and some of these holes still have stakes as well). Yellow stakes mark island greens on several holes. Most holes have plenty of distance, and all holes have plenty of challenge. There are no easy birdies here. For those who like tight technical courses, there weren't any thread-the-needle type throws here - but there were enough moderately wooded holes to keep me happy with that aspect of the design, and the water hazards and OB stakes mean that you'll still need to be relatively accurate on the more open holes.

Holes 1-9 and 10-14 loop back to the parking lot. I always try to note this kind of design feature in my reviews, but on this occasion I actually wanted something from my car both times I looped back. It took me about 3.5 hours to play my solo round here (despite not having to wait for anyone), so the short breaks were definitely welcome.

There are no tee signs, and no indication of plans to add them. There is only the caddie book that you get when you check in. Ah, the caddie book. It is admittedly a well-done collection of paper. It's a 5.5" x 8.5", color printed 38-page booklet that contains general course information, 18 pages with specific information on each hole, and advertisements for the various other amenities on site (cabins, fishing, etc.).

The reasons why I think this is a poor substitute for tee signs are:
- The 2-4 pin positions per hole are shown on the hole pages, but the CURRENT pin position isn't indicated on that page. Instead, all of the pin positions are hand-scrawled on a separate page at the back of the booklet. It was annoying having to constantly flip back and forth to figure out where I needed to throw.
- Since I chose not to rent a golf cart and I only carry a sling bag that holds 10 discs, I didn't really have a good place to put the caddie book. I had to kind of slide it in between a couple of my discs, where it took a fair amount of damage over the course of my round.
- One of the things I like about disc golf is that it is generally better for the environment than ball golf. Giving every visitor a huge caddie book is a waste of paper and less sustainable than installing tee signs once at each tee that would last for years.

To be very clear, this course does not have an easy option. If you cannot throw at least 250' with accuracy, even the Red tees will be too much for you. Many of the holes were in the longest pin positions during my visit so that probably affected my perception a bit - but some of those long positions are also the most memorable (like #18) so I doubt that the shorter pin positions are actually used much. Some may scoff at this Con, but I think that the very best courses should be not only fun for professionals but ALSO accessible to the average player. Installing a second basket on each hole could help with this too.

I had a couple of small issues with the balance of the course. First, most of the longest holes are loaded at the beginning and end of the course. Second, most of the shorter par 3 holes in the middle of the course have island greens. The only "normal" (non-island) par 3 hole on the entire course is hole 7. The first couple of island greens were interesting and fun, but to see that same design feature repeated a third, fourth, and fifth time started to feel kind of gimmicky.

Even using the course map in the caddie book, I did get briefly lost when looking for hole 10's tee. A couple more signs to mark the start of the back nine would be a nice touch.

In addition to all of the white OB stakes/tape and yellow island stakes, there are red stakes all around the course for spectator walking paths. I know it's a style, but it definitely took away from the aesthetics of the terrain for me.

Some of the amenities are clearly geared towards players who choose to rent golf carts, and less convenient for those who choose to walk. For example, the trash cans are only near the golf cart paths. Similarly, the free WiFi didn't work for me on much of the course but I expect the golf carts have technology to strengthen the signal (there is little to no cell service here, so even if you skip the golf cart as I did you'll probably want to try to connect to the WiFi). The golf cart paths are also very much in play on some holes, sitting just barely off (and in a couple cases, right on) the fairways. I didn't like hole 10, which has a very cool motion-activated railroad crossing sign on the path down to the White/Red tees - but that kind of distracts from the fact that the hole itself just plays down a straight, flat, and boring gravel golf cart path that will scuff up your discs.

This course costs $39.95/person to play a round (just round it up to an even $40 please). You can book a tee time in advance online (recommended), or pay in the pro shop upon arrival. I booked my Thursday morning tee time the night before and had no trouble using the site or selecting the time I wanted. In fact, I was on site all day and only 2-3 other groups showed up the entire time. $40 may seem like a lot to spend on 18 holes of disc golf, but you can definitely see where every cent is going so I didn't really mind. The one thing I would say though is that it would be nice to offer a dramatically reduced rate (say, $10) to players who want to buy a second round on the same day, if there are still tee times available.

Upon arrival, you should check in at the pro shop (even if you booked online), and you'll also get the option of adding a golf cart rental for an additional $50. The pro shop employee will walk you through the course and can help recommend a choice of tee for you (when I told him I throw about 250', he smirked and recommended the Reds - but he was definitely correct).

While this course is unquestionably a treat to play and something that every serious and talented disc golfer (above 850ish rating) should experience at least once, I want to say that I hope this does not become the norm for our sport. It all felt a bit stuffy and over-commercialized to me. The only other disc golf course that has ever made me feel this way, to my recollection is Lake Arvesta Farms in southwestern Michigan. This course is significantly better than that one, but the feeling was still similar. Perhaps the best way I can sum this feeling up is by quoting the safety page in the caddie book. It starts off with the statement that "Much of Eagles Crossing is set in natural terrain" and goes on to discuss such natural hazards as thorn bushes, mosquitos, and ticks. Really?? Is that where we're at now - warning that "much of" a disc golf course is natural?

When writing this review, I noticed mrbro855's post in the Discussion tab for this course. I agree with the essence of what he said, except for the part where he did not want to post it as a review (It should be a review, IMHO! The highest rated course on this site should be a product of reviewer consensus, not meeting any course owner's goal). But to go along with what he said - if you struggle to throw 300'+ with accuracy, only the Red tees on this course will really be accessible for you. And if you are below about 850 rating, this course is really going to be too much for you and you likely won't enjoy it - full stop. I can say this from experience, as I think 850 is right about where I sit. During my round here, I uncharacteristically struggled with control to go along with my usual struggles with distance. I racked up several double bogies and many bogies, and was definitely feeling a bit frustrated by the end of the round despite still enjoying the spectacle. I have scored worse on plenty of other courses, but this one - more than any other that I have ever played - drove home a feeling that despite playing disc golf as much as I do, I'm really not very GOOD at disc golf.

In summary - for intermediate to advanced players, Eagle's Crossing will likely be one of the most exciting rounds you have ever played. For recreational level players, by all means come give it a try if you are motivated but just know that this course is not meant for you. My sense of that, plus the other Cons I listed are enough for me to slot this one in as a 4.5 instead of the 5.0 that most other reviewers have given it.

Apparently, there will eventually be three courses on site - this one, the newly opened Wild Times, and a third course. If the third course proves to be more beginner friendly, it will be much easier for me to wholeheartedly recommend Eagle's Crossing to all disc golfers. But even now, the Eagle's Crossing spectacle is one that you have to see to believe. It's definitely worth a stop on your next visit to the Show Me State!

Eagles Crossing is one of the new up and coming great courses around. I've heard nothing but amazing things about it. Tough to live up to all that hype, but Eagles Crossing came damn close.

The course is divided into two 9 hole loops which end up back near the pro shop. This is much appreciated. Especially for a beast of a course like this one. There's a good mix of wooded and more open holes on each section as well. Never feels repetitive.

The equipment is excellent here. The baskets are Gateway Titan Pro-24's. These are nice baskets. No issues with them catching whatsoever. I also really like the blue tops on them. These actually stand out really well in the woods. There's one basket per hole but up to 4 pin positions per hole. I don't think any of the holes had less than 2. The only one that had 2 was hole 9 which has the basket perched on a pretty small island green.

The tee pads are the best I've ever seen, and it's not even close. Three tee pads on every hole. These things are huge. The pads on the majority of courses you've played? Double them in length and width. To top thing off they're color coded by red, white or blue. The WHOLE tee pad is that color. Never seen anything like it. Absolutely gorgeous pads here. Every one of them is surrounded by gravel and built up around a rock wall too.

The water comes into play all over the place here. I can't even count the number of times to be honest. It's present everywhere. I'm not a big fan of water on courses. Here and there ok. I didn't think I'd like all the water in play here. If you play it safe the water is actually pretty easy to avoid. I really liked this design. We played the mid (white) tees for every hole except for two of them. We didn't think we could clear it so we played the short (red) pads instead and were able to keep our discs dry.

There's so many unique holes here it's hard to remember them all. Holes 8 and 9 were two of the standouts on the front nine. Hole 8 is an awesome island hole where the red tee serves as the drop zone for the other two tees. Hole 9 is sharp dogleg left that plays to an island green with a terraced area in the middle of the island. There's a large tree protecting the majority of the airspace so sticking the green from any kind of length out can be tricky. I found that out firsthand.

The trainwreck hole is an interesting way to get the back nine started. Long, super tight, dead straight fairway to the whole way. A big over the top shot hoping to crash into the fairway and chew up distance is possible from the blue tee. Hole 18 is the signature hole I'd say. Lengthy par 5 that played up to the giant terreced green when we were there. There are two other pin positions there but i'd imagine they're rarely used.

The pro shop has a really nice selection a discs, bags, apparel etc. There's also a large variety of different (expensive) beverages and bags of ice for purchase too. Golf carts are available for rent too at $60 a cart.

There's not much for cons here but I'll start with the obvious. $37/person per round is by far the most I've ever played for a round of disc golf. If it was all day that'd be a little easier to stomach. I had no problem paying that, but other's might.

They are in the process of renumbering some holes it sounds like. I'm assuming that's why there were no tee signs upon our visit. For that type of price I'd expect some kind of tee signs. I'd much prefer to check out the tee sign than dig out the caddie book for every hole. The caddie book doesn't have the updated hole numbers for 14thru 16 or whatever it was. We ended up accidentally playing 16 before holes 14 and 15 and had to backtrack up 16's fairway, play the two we missed and then back up 16 again. Mildly annoying and when the new signs come it'll be a non issue I'd think.

The stakes everywhere take away from some of the natural beauty. I mean there's gotta be about a thousand stakes out there. I get their purpose and all. But it's just such a beautiful property and these kind of take away from that a little.

There was only 3 groups ahead of us when we started. By the start of hole 10 we were jammed between the group that started right before us, a group of 6 using 3 carts. Apparently the group that was originally ahead of them stopped at the parking lot for a bit and ended up pulling up behind us. Tee times are good in theory and all, but me and my wife on foot passed two groups using carts . All while dinking and dunking up these fairways 250' at a time.

This is the best course I've played to date I'd say. It's just such a unique experience with the absolute best amenities out there. Hands down. This is the type of course you plan a round trip around to play. Hell, this is the kind of course you book a flight to fly out here to play it. It's that good. Bucket list type of course.

Talking to the guy in the pro shop it sounds like they are in the process of building another 18 hole course on the property called the "Wild Times" course. Apparently you can check out the test flights of some of the hole on this course. This course is already a destination, it'd be that much better with a fully wooded option onsite. This one is easily 4.75 out of 5. Get out here as soon as you can. I'll be back for sure. If the new course is anything like this and completely wooded I may never leave.

Hands down end of discussion the best amenities I've ever seen on a course. Incredible pro shop that not only has discs, has fishing gear, tons of drinks, snacks, etc. Was blown away. The cart rental was a great feature and they had blue tooth speakers in them. Also, making a tee time was very easy with the ability to book on a website. They also had Wifi throughout the course, a map / caddy guide included with greens fees and not to mention the incredible driving range.

I loved the 9 in and 9 out part of the course. It's a physical work out and the break to get a Gatorade and a snack after 9 was very welcome.

The course was professionally manicured and had some incredible views throughout the property.

If you want a challenge, this is the course for you. I'm a 950-960 player and from the blue tees, can not see myself ever shooting par.

The feature I was most amazed with was the dyed concrete. I've played 170 courses and probably walked 60 more that I never played, and I've never seen dyed tees. It was so easy to quickly tell which tee was what. Brilliant idea.

Biggest con, by far, is the "middle of no where" factor. This course might redefine that.

Also, the par 3 design, IMHO, was not good. Too many man made island greens which lead to some artificial score increased. Sure, play shorter tees, but that's not the point. Hole 16 was a brilliantly designed natural island / peninsula which makes the non-natural island theme of the par 3s even more questionable. And then, the finishing hole is an island green par 4. Just waaaaay overuse of that design feature.

I was also surprised there were not distance markers in fairways on the non par 3s. With range finders, this wasn't a big deal. But you would think if you can afford massive elephant statues, you would put these on the property.

It's a must play. I don't think I would ever want to compete on this course in a tournament due to the island green theme of the par 3s, but it's an incredible experience that any disc golfer should take up.